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Support Taiwan\'s Right to Apply for UN Membership

Support Taiwan\'s Right to Apply for United Nations Membership
Human Rights Without Frontiers International (Brussels) urges you to join this initiative.
The objective is to allow Taiwan to present its application to the General Assembly of the United Nations, which is to meet on September 18th in New York.
It will then be up to the relevant UN body to examine the application and to take its decision - whether it is positive or negative - freely and without any pressure.
At this stage of the procedure, Taiwan\'s application has been nipped in the bud by the Secretary General of the UN, who has sent it back to Taiwan\'s president.
Please read the \"Open Letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations\" by Willy Fautre, Director of Human Rights Without Frontiers.
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Open Letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations
Dear Mr. Ban Ki-moon,
Human Rights Without Frontiers International (Brussels) urges you to process Taiwan\'s application for UN membership to the UN\'s General Assembly in accordance with the relevant rules of the procedure of the UN so that it can examine it before its session due to take place on September 18th in New York.
According to a poll conducted by Taiwan\'s Executive Yuan\'s Mainland Affairs Council in April 2007, over 77% of the respondents support Taiwan\'s application for membership in the UN. We trust Taiwan\'s government should express people\'s will.
Taiwan has all the qualifications to apply for UN membership as laid out in the \"Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States\": a defined territory (which ranks in first half of all 198 UN member ), a permanent population of 23 million people (more than many European Member States of the UN), a democratically elected government in a multi-party system and capacity to have relations with other states. Moreover, Taiwan currently ranks as the world\'s 18th largest economy, the 16th largest trading nation and stands as one of the top 20 sources of foreign investment.
Keeping Taiwan outside the UN not only deprives the country of its right to participate in and contribute to the work of the UN and its specialized agencies, but also infringes upon the basic human rights of the 23 million people of Taiwan.
Respectfully Yours,
Willy Fautre, Director
Human Rights Without Frontiers International (Brussels)

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Human Rights Without Frontiers International (HRWF) was formed in 1989. From its inception, the main focus of HRWF\'s activities has been monitoring, research, and analysis in the field of human rights as well as the promotion of democracy and the rule of law.
HRWF Int. is based in Brussels, Belgium, has branches in China, Nepal, Southeast Asia, and Bhutan, and has a number of partner organizations throughout the world.

Links

Freedom House 2007 Country Report http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfmpage=22&country=7283&year=2007
The European Parliament: Interview of Yang Tzu-Pao, deputy foreign minister of Taiwan
http://www.theparliament.com/EN/Interviews/200707/fad6b404-9588-44bb-b5f7-4db89162489e.htm
Available on the Human Rights Without Frontiers website:
\"Live interview of Dr. Michael Kau\" BBC World Service http://www.hrwf.net/taiwanpetition/BBCMichaelKau.doc
FM James Huang\'s \"Taiwan and the UN. What\'s in a name\" The International Herald Tribune http://www.hrwf.net/taiwanpetition/Whatsinaname.jpg
(5) IHT Letters to the Editor: \"China\'s Taiwan Policy\"
(http://www.hrwf.net/taiwanpetition/lettertotheeditor.jpg)
(6) The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition: \"King of the U.N.\"
(http://www.taiwandc.org:80/wsj-2007-02.htm)
Learn more and join the discussion at Human Rights Without Frontiers\' website:
http://www.hrwf.net/taiwanpetition.html